


Untold

by inquiries_at_the_desk



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Gen, I definitely ship them but couldn't really find a spot to actually say that, I'll have a short summary inside but it'll make more sense if you've seen the movie, Voyage to Danger, background jigen/lupin but like only if you squint, implied character death but like not for long, mentioned goemon and fujiko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:29:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23929942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquiries_at_the_desk/pseuds/inquiries_at_the_desk
Summary: During and post Voyage to Danger Lupin thinks a lot about a story Jigen hasn't told him--yet.Aka a bunch of fragmented ideas that I scribbled down while watching Voyage to Danger and then decided to post.
Relationships: Jigen Daisuke & Arsène Lupin III
Kudos: 13





	Untold

**Author's Note:**

> All you've really got to know regarding the special is that Jigen almost gets blown up, Lupin thinks he's dead, and it's very dramatic for all of five minutes.  
> There's also this lady who I think is supposed to be a romantic interest for Jigen (subverted at first but then yeets right back onto track at the end) so you know what happens to her.

They’re on the island and Jigen says that he might not come back and honestly? Lupin doesn’t quite know what went down between Jigen and Karen--but he draws Keith’s fire anyways and hopes to hell that he’ll have the chance to hear about it later. He’s had his fair share of dangerous moments for the sake of women; and his partner has yet to let him down during any of those. Jigen deserves his time as well, and so Lupin lures Keith away from the pair and leaves them to talk without so much as a glance back because they trust each other and his partner will always come out on top. And Jigen will tell him all about it eventually; he always does.

Or so he thinks. He’s informed of his partner’s death only minutes later, and thinking back on it, there had been a suspiciously loud noise a short time ago. An explosion, perhaps? A grenade launcher? A- shit. Lupin has a solid moment of disbelief before the shock sets in. How did they get Jigen? How the hell did his brave, gun-toting partner die? There’s no way that the statement is true, he repeats to himself, but Jigen doesn’t show up and neither does Fujiko and Lupin ends up having to flee the island--the scene of the crime--without so much as a confirmation from either one of them and the entire time all he can think is “that’s not possible,” even though he knows full well that it is. 

Such is the lot of thieves.

He’s hit with news of Goemon’s death as soon as he lands. In retrospect, Lupin realizes that this was what hammered home the point. Goemon, Jigen: dead. Fujiko: gone. And the only person he has left is the man who has been trying to arrest him for about as long as he’s been committing crimes. They get into a bit of an argument over this--Lupin, joking but not joking, mentions the dramatic irony in all of it; Zenigata, hurt, retorts that if Lupin had been arrested before he had dragged them into it, then nobody would be dead. Zenigata, overreacting friend cop that he is, is vindicated in this at least: Lupin bitterly reflects that if he hadn’t involved his friends they would still be here. With him.

Goemon looks like shit and Lupin has never been happier. It gives him some spark of hope--just a little--that Jigen might have made it. His partner is tougher than that. Stronger than that. And Lupin still hasn’t heard what happened between the gunslinger and Karen and dammit, he has unfinished business. Forget Jigen haunting him, Lupin will gladly take this curiosity to a ghost if it means that he’ll see his partner again.

Lupin’s burning desire for revenge is, apparently, no match for Keith’s brute force. He’s overpowered and on the ground and in the moment, with the barrel of a gun in his face and rocks digging into his sleeve, all he can think about is how pissed Jigen would be if they both got done in by the same guy. Hell, how pissed he’s going to be if the way this situation is going is any indicator. But--a gunshot and Keith falls and holy shit is that-

He’s literally never been more relieved to see his partner alive--but when the very next thing he does is ask for death, Lupin panics. They were having a good moment even if Lupin had been dangerously close to hysterics. But then Karen had appeared and Lupin watches with mounting dread as Jigen resolutely faces the possibility of death even though he has just been recalled to life. It’s not his business to interfere, really, but he just got his best friend back and it won’t be fair if he just up and dies without explaining shit.

Karen’s shots are true and together they crumple to the ground--her and Keith and, catching her as she falls, uninjured but hurt nonetheless, so does Jigen.

He thinks he deserves the shot to Keith’s head.

Jigen has never liked women. Burned too many times, perhaps, or maybe he simply doesn’t swing that way: Lupin doesn’t know and doesn’t particularly mind either way. But his relationship with Karen, romantic or not, is something new to the thief and he steadfastly ignores his partner shaking like a leaf while he deals with the situation at hand. Jigen hates being vulnerable and right now the best Lupin can do is wait until he wants to talk.

His partner spells it out for him later that evening--between shots and cigarettes and fingers that, despite the events of the past few days (weeks, really), never once shake on the metal of his gun. He talks about the moment in the submarine and the recognition in Karen’s eyes and of killing his partner such a long time ago. Of the way Karen had been young and Jigen had shot her father right in front of her. Of the realization that she was just angry and jaded and looking for revenge. And how it had felt deserved.

His partner sees in Karen all the children whose parents he’s killed. It’s karma, Jigen tells him, sitting sideways on the couch in their hotel room. Lupin vehemently shakes his head because it’s not, it really isn't. They might not be the good guys, but nobody deserves to have to kill their partner. Or to think they’re dead. And even if Karen did deserve revenge, well, that didn’t mean Jigen’s idiotic self-sacrificing martyr complex had to make things easy for her.

Jigen just laughs at that. And they go to sleep with the scent of smoke in the air, whisky in their sighs, and the tangible relief of a story since told.

**Author's Note:**

> This special had a lot of potential with the whole "Jigen's past comes back to haunt him in the form of a woman whose dad he killed" and the fact that her dad was his partner. But it really didn't go anywhere so here I am. Someday I'll write a full fic about it.  
> Also I don't see Karen as a romantic interest like, at all. I know it's anime and the whole "I didn't shoot you because I love you maybe?" thing is probably supposed to be a setup but man I was not vibing with that at all. I think she's more of a reminder of Jigen's past than anything else.


End file.
